MS. BUCHAN: Let me start with a little bit about the President's
day. He had his usual intelligence, national security and FBI
briefings this morning. He also participated in a national security
meeting by secure video conference. The subject of that was Iraq. And
I also have a statement for you by the deputy press secretary, which
will be coming out after the gaggle.

"The United States is deeply disturbed by extensive and credible
indications of fraud committed in the Ukranian presidential election.
We strongly support efforts to review the conduct of the election and
urge Ukranian authorities not to certify results until investigations
of organized fraud are resolved. We call on the government of Ukraine
to respect the will of the Ukranian people and we urge all Ukrainians
to resolve the situation through peaceful means. The government bears
a special responsibility not to use or incite violence, and to allow
free media to report accurately on the situation without intimidation
or coercion. The United States stands with the Ukranian people in this
difficult time."

And with that, I will take your questions.

Q Thanks, Claire. Is the President planning, at all, to lean
on Secretary Rumsfeld on the intelligence bill and get him to make
public statements to help get it passed and resolve the problems, the
impasse?

Q Claire, you might summarize the questions for us because we
can't hear.

MS. BUCHAN: The question was about the intelligence bill and
whether or not the President was planning to -- quote -- "lean on
Secretary Rumsfeld" to urge its passage.

I would say the President has made very clear that he believes the
Congress should act on the intelligence bill. He has personally been
very involved, as has the Vice President, in urging members of Congress
to move forward with intelligence reform. As you know, when the
President landed in Chile on Friday, he called Congressman
Sensenbrenner; the weekend before, he was in touch with Congressman
Hunter. Members of the White House staff, including Chief of Staff
Card, have also been working very hard on this issue. Members of the
senior staff and the legislative staff plan to participate in
Republican retreats next week. So we're going to work very hard on
this issue; it's something the President wants to get done.

Q -- speaking with Rumsfeld himself?

MS. BUCHAN: Well, I think Secretary Rumsfeld is actually speaking
right now, and I heard him expressing support for passage of the bill.
I'll let him speak for himself, but he's speaking right now.

Q I'm asking what the President is going to do in terms of
talking to the Secretary and trying to say, hey, can you help to do
whatever you can to get behind this. Have there been conversations to
that effect?

MS. BUCHAN: I'm not aware of any conversations, but the President
has publicly made clear how committed he is to this legislation and he,
at his press conference in Chile, made clear that he believes that this
is important for reforming our intelligence and moving forward to help
ensure that we're doing everything possible to make sure our
intelligence is the best that it can be so that we can protect the
American people.

Q On that point, does the White House feel that Rumsfeld has
been anything but supportive about the bill?

MS. BUCHAN: Well, I think that the President has made clear
through statements -- and the administration has been very clear in its
statements of administration policy that the President wants to get
this done. We've worked very hard with members of Congress. They made
a lot of progress; there was a deal on the table last week. And we
continue to work to try and get this passed. As you saw, the Speaker
and the Leader have both indicated that they're going to keep working
this bill and the President urges them to do that.

Suzanne.

Q Claire, since Chile, has the President reached out to
Sensenbrenner or to Hunter or to Rumsfeld and specifically talking
about the need to push for the reform?

MS. BUCHAN: I don't believe he has made calls to members of
Congress since he's returned.

James.

Q Claire, as the Commander-in-Chief, is he pleased with the
support he's receiving from the Joint Chiefs of Staff on this
legislative issue?

MS. BUCHAN: I'm not quite sure what you're referring to, James.

Q Is the -- as the Commander-in-Chief, is the President pleased
with the support he has received from the Joint Chiefs of Staff in
navigating this legislative issue?

MS. BUCHAN: Well, I think the Joint Chiefs of Staff has, at
various points in the process, made their views clear on these issues.
Those views were reviewed and the President's view has been reflected
both in his statements and in the statements of administration policy.
And we continue to work to push to get the job done.

Q But does the President, as the Commander-in-Chief, feel that
he is receiving the support that he is entitled to as
Commander-in-Chief, from the Joint Chiefs of Staff on this issue?

MS. BUCHAN: Well, this is an issue that the Congress needs to act
on and we are continuing to work with the Congress to get the job
done. That is where the action lies at this point. You see that, as I
said, that Secretary Rumsfeld is currently talking about the importance
of passing this legislation and we hope that the Congress will act.

Q Can I try it from one more perspective, and then I will leave
you alone? Is the President displeased with the behavior of any of the
top uniform commanders at this time, that you can say? Is he
displeased?

MS. BUCHAN: No, James, as I said, Secretary Rumsfeld is currently
talking about this issue, even as we speak. And when I walked in here,
he was expressing his support for passage of this legislation. The
President urges the Congress to act. We have been in touch with
members of Congress. We expect to continue to be, and the Speaker, and
Leader Frist have both expressed their desire for the Congress to keep
working in these upcoming days and weeks. Congress, as you know, did
not adjourn for the year. They held open the possibility that they
could come back and get this done. And the President hopes that they
will do so, and we expect to continue to work very hard to ensure that
they do get it done.

Q So that was a "no" to my question just now?

MS. BUCHAN: Yes.

Q Following on that a bit, then. What type of dissent, if any,
has the President received from any members of his Cabinet or from the
Joint Chiefs regarding this bill? Of course, Secretary Rumsfeld said
he'd support the President's decision, as you would expect him to, but
what type of dissent has the President received, as least in terms of
discussing this bill, from the Joint Chiefs or from Secretary
Rumsfeld?

MS. BUCHAN: Not conceding your point that he would receive any or
not, we would, obviously, never talk about specific conversations that
the President would have with members of his Cabinet or members of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff. The President does welcome the views of his
administration. He wants to hear from people as to how they believe
various legislation would -- what the effects of that would be, and
then decisions are made.

And I think our view has been very clear. We've made it clear both
in statements of administration policy, as I said, and in a letter that
went up to Congress maybe three or four weeks ago, expressing our views
on various aspects of the legislation, and calling on them,
importantly, to get the job done.

Q Claire, can you give us a little more information about this
visit tomorrow, the King and Queen of Spain? Is this an attempt to
smooth over ruffled relations with Spain, particularly since they
pulled out of Iraq?

MS. BUCHAN: Well, Spain is an important ally -- a long-standing,
important ally of the United States. And the President looks forward
to welcoming the King and Queen to the ranch tomorrow for lunch.
They'll be having a private meeting. I don't anticipate that we'll
have a readout of that, but the President does look forward to greeting
the King and Queen and to hosting them.

Q Well, how about in terms of smoothing over diplomatic
relations? Is this viewed as that, an effort to do that?

MS. BUCHAN: Well, we reach out to various people all the time.
Spain is a long-standing ally, and the King is an important figure in
Spain, and the President looks forward to hosting him at his ranch
tomorrow.

MS. BUCHAN: Whether or not the President had plans to meet with
Prime Minister Zapatero.

Q Can you tell us -- I promised to leave you alone, but I was
lying -- can you tell us about how the President will go about
replacing Steve Friedman?

MS. BUCHAN: As you have seen, Steve Friedman does intend to resign
from his position in the National Economic Council. I expect you'll be
hearing more about that in the next couple of days. He has been an
outstanding member, leading the economic team for the last two years,
as we have achieved passage of the jobs and growth bill, which has
contributed to the economic recovery and the job creation that we've
seen. And we'll keep you posted on details, James, in terms of who
will be his successor.

MS. BUCHAN: I expect that you'll be able to enjoy a leisurely week
here.

Q Has the President called Zapatero back, after the
congratulatory calls?

MS. BUCHAN: I don't believe he has. We typically have read those
out. I'll double check, but I don't believe so.

Q Claire, on the intelligence bill, one of the stumbling block
issues was this question over whether --

MS. BUCHAN: One of the what?

Q One of the -- kind of one of the issues of contention was
whether the illegal immigrants should be allowed to get driver's
licenses. What is the President's position on that issue, apart from
the bill -- from the --

MS. BUCHAN: I would have to go back, Peter, and look at the
statements of administration policy and see if we had expressed a
specific position on that issue. We urge the Congress to act on the
overall issue. We want a bill that has a strong national intelligence
director, that creates a counter-terrorism center. The legislation
that was on the table at the end of last week -- over the weekend, did
include those provisions. And we're going to continue to work with
Congress, because it's important that they get a bill done, and that a
bill include those provisions. And you'd have to go back and look at
some of the -- we've gone through, point-by-point, on the bill, on some
of the major issues. I just have to go back and look on the
specifics.

Q Sorry, we can't hear the questions at all. What was that?

MS. BUCHAN: The question was on whether or not the administration
supported the driver's license provisions that are at issue in the
intel bill.

Q I'm duty bound to ask if there's any White House comment
about the announcement that Dan Rather is stepping down as anchor of
the evening news?

MS. BUCHAN: Well, Dan Rather has had a distinguished and long
career as a journalist. I'm sure his -- many of his viewers will miss
him, and we wish him the best.

Q Do those viewers include the President?

MS. BUCHAN: Any other questions? (Laughter.)

Q Claire, I have another question. Did the President request
Rumsfeld or Myers to make their support of the intelligence reform bill
public today, that they expressed their --

MS. BUCHAN: I don't know if he has asked them to do that,
Suzanne. I'll see if I can check. But I've not heard that, but that
doesn't mean that that's not the case.

Anything else? Thank you all.

Q What else is he --

MS. BUCHAN: Well, he was doing -- he was clearing a little brush.
He's been in contact with various staff members, both here and in
Washington, by phone. I don't anticipate anything else of note. If
there is anything to read out, we will.